The word 'testimonials' in the final sentence refers to
Defenders of alternative medicine often point out that many patients report feeling better after treatment. This is not in dispute, but it does not show that the treatment works. Many conditions improve on their own; patients often seek treatment when symptoms are at their worst, so that a recovery would have followed anyway; and the attention of a sympathetic practitioner can itself lift mood. The only way to separate the effect of a remedy from these other factors is a fair trial in which some patients receive it and others do not. Where such trials have been done, most alternative remedies have not outperformed a dummy treatment. That does not make their users foolish. It does mean that confidence should be based on trials and not on testimonials.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: E. personal accounts from users that the treatment helped them
- Step 1: Testimonials are contrasted with trials.
- Step 2: They are personal statements of benefit.
Answer
personal accounts from users that the treatment helped them.
Why not the others: Fair trials, legal documents, regulators' reports and hospital statistics are formal evidence; testimonials are personal accounts of benefit.
Practise more Medicine and belief.
Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed LNAT mock tests.